I Will Remain
by sameperspective
Summary: Harry is dead. Ron, dead. Neville. Luna. Ginny. Visions of bodies swam through Hermione's head as she screamed at portraits of headmasters and headmistresses long dead and gone. The floor shook as the wards guarding this office were assaulted again, a golden object fell from a high shelf and shattered onto the floor. Hermione had just picked it up as the wards fell. Time-turner fic
1. Preface

**Preface**

 _Why had Harry gone alone to the forest?_

Hermione had not believed it when Hagrid emerged from the forrest carrying a limp, lifeless Harry towards the waiting light side. As they drew closer and the screams of Ginny rang through her ear she expected Harry to spring alive, almost as if were playing a sick joke on all present. The seconds dragged on though and as Voldemort made a demonstration of Harry's body, Hermione hopes that any second he would become animated once again began to dwindle. It wasn't until she really studied Voldemort's face; his warped features constructed into a vision of glee, that the realization sunk it.

Harry was dead.

Then Neville, brave and valiant, had stepped forward and gave an inspiring speech that was meant to rally the troops. Voldemort toyed with him but his courage was still a beacon of resistance. He even managed to slice the head off of that wretched snake Nagini, but that seemed to do nothing but anger Voldemort. Nagini's head had not even hit the ground before the _Avada_ had struck Neville square in the chest, his lifeless form falling next to the open jaws of the massive snake, sword of Gryffindor still in his hand.

The battle started up once again, but the light side was fighting scared, making careless mistakes that turned into fatal mistakes. Hermione found herself in an intense dual with Dolohov, he seemed to be hell bent on revenge from their confrontation in the Department of Mysteries during fifth year. In her periphery she saw Professor Flitwick fall at the hands of Yaxley, and it cost her a scotching hex to her side. Falling backward she saw Dolohov raise his wand with a look of delight, green shot out of his wand, but a tall figure jumped between the two of them and took the impact of the killing curse.

Hermione quickly sent powerful stunner at Dolohov, he flew backward into the stone wall. The impact was hard, his head hitting before his body and he fell to ground, blood pooling out of the back of his skull. Dead. Quickly Hermione flipped the familiar body in front of her, a tear falling down her cheek as she closed the glass eyes staring back at her.

Ron, dead.

Another curse flew over Hermione's head and she turned to see Bellatrix Lestrange finish off McGonagall and turn her frenzied eyes onto her. Jumping to her feet Hermione tried to think of what to do. There had to be a logical solution, some way to turn the tide back in the light's favor. There is no way this can be the end, there is always a solution.

 _The memories._

Whatever Harry had seen in Professor Snape's memories had been the key to stopping Voldemort, maybe there was some secret hidden in there. Making the decision in that moment Hermione turned and dashed out of the great hall and sprinted towards the familiar gargoyle statue.

Hermione was rushed along by the constant maniacal laughter from Bellatrix Lestrange that followed her through the castle.

"Come here my pretty pet," Bellatrix's voice echoed off the empty hallway walls, "Our time at the manor was cut short and I know you were enjoying our time together!"

As Hermione approached the gargoyles she was surprised when they sprang aside without need of a password. She dived into the opening as soon as the gargoyles moved out of her way, they immediately took back their post guarding the door for her. Rushing up the stairs and into the office she slammed the door and put up as many wards as she dared waste time on. She had just finished her last spell when the door in front of her rocked. Bellatrix had made it through the gargoyles.

Turning, she went to the pensive, only to find that the memories that should be swimming in those depths were missing. It was empty. Harry had took them with him. Her heart dropped and she turned to see the sullen look of Severus Snape looking down at her from his portrait on the wall.

"What's the secret," she implored the painting in front of her, "how do we defeat him? What did you show Harry that made him sacrifice himself for all of us?"

The only sound came from the assault on the door behind her, the man though was silent.

Hermione shifted her eyes to Dumbledore and begged, "How do we stopped this, Him?"

Once again, no answer.

She could feel her wards dropping one by one, mere seconds from being face to face with death again.

"Any of you?!" Hermione's voice rang out at the headmasters and mistresses adorning the walls around her. Tears fell silently down her face as the whole room shook again from the force of spells being thrown at the door.

A small, golden object on a chain fell from a high shelf, shattering onto the floor below. Hermione picked up the broken object and cradled it gingerly in the same hand as her wand. A humorless laugh left her raspy throat, a time turner.

 _A broken time turner._

Its golden sphere dented and warped, the glass shattered and sand spilled into Hermione's hand. The one thing in this entire world that could have changed everything. She looked up sadly and eyes came face to face with Severus Snape's black eyes once more, they looked almost regretful.

The floor shook one last time and Hermione felt her last ward drop and the door bust open. Reflexively, her hand closed tightly around her wand, crushing the rest of the time tuner in her palm, glass making deep cuts into the skin. Hermione began to conjure up a defensive shield just as a shot of purple left Bellatrix's wand and hit her wand hand first, sending excruciating pain searing up her arm and towards her chest.

Hermione feel to her knee cradling the arm, the veins rising up her arm were discolored black as is a poison was coursing through her body. She relaxed her wand hand and looked at the deep cuts made by the time turner, blood pouring from the wound and mixing with the residual sand that had spilled from the broken hour glass. Suddenly, the floor shifted below Hermione spinning around her, she felt a pressure build up around her body. She felt as though she was being pulled a million different directions at once.

Hermione heard Bellatrix's yell out in anger and then everything stopped. There was nothing but blackness and pain.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Hermione was slowly beginning to regain consciousness and she had a short moment to appreciate the way the cold, sturdy floor felt on her altogether too hot skin before she was overcome with pain, she yelled out in agony. She was in a fog grasping at straws to remember what had occurred but couldn't quite understand what was going on but she could feel the pain – the intense pain pulsing through her veins, acutely aware each time her heart contracted and relaxed spreading the cursed blood further into her body.

Around her should could hear two familiar voices talking fervently but could not pin point how she knew the voices. At a loss to piece together the words that were being spoken, all she could tell is that they seemed frantic.

She tried to move herself to sit up but instead was met with throbbing agony in all the muscles she had attempted to move, she let out a piercing, sharp cry.

Hermione heard movement around her and then felt the presence of a form hovering over her. She tried to peel back her eyelids but the light hurt - when she finally managed to open them her vision was burry and skewed, she instantly shut them again.

She could hear the person above her muttering spells and running diagnostic tests, all the while shouting commands at the other person in the room.

The person suddenly made contact with her moving the sleeve of her jacket covering the arm that held her wand - that she now realized was still clutching her wand and the broken time-turner. The small movement sent another wave of torment up her body and she tried to flinch away, only to discover she had no control over her body. She attempted to move again, trying to relax the fingers on her wand, nothing. Though she tried again and again it was as if she were paralyzed, while still being able to feel everything.

The realization of being unable to control her movements is what finally penetrated Hermione's mind into action, her need for control took over and pushed her brain to clear focus, it took all her might but she managed to pry her eyes open and allowed them to adjust.

Hermione was shocked when staring down at her from above was none other than Severus Snape, only it was not him at the same time - at least the him she knew. This Snape had none of the deep lines marring his face, formed from years of marking students and doing the Dark Lord's bidding, his hair was thicker and seemed not so much greasy, but more of a natural shine. Most importantly were his eyes, they did hold that ever present mixture of contempt and boredom, rather they still had a glint of something Hermione couldn't place.

"You're alive," Hermione's coarse voice ground out, just the act of speaking sent a wave of nausea rolling up into her skull. Struggling to keep her eyes open, another figure moved into view.

 _Dumbledore. Dumbledore is alive._

Hermione gasped as she took in the image of the two dead headmasters, her pain along with the image of these men standing over her was too much for Hermione to handle and she finally succumbed to darkness.

* * *

The high backed, Gryffindor scarlet chair that was placed opposite of the headmaster's desk was arguable the worst in the castle; the seat was too deep, the back too straight, the cushion too plush. It was impossible for one to both relax into the chair and maintain a semblance of decorum and Severus Snape did not have proper manors beat into him as child only to slouch in front of his superior. Therefore on any given night it was not uncommon to find one ramrod straight potions master seated in the offending piece of furniture. It was bearable for the normal meetings that would occur between a headmaster and his professor; discussions about lesson plans or a disorderly pupil, but that is not why Severus frequented the headmaster's office.

No, that is not the reason on which the potions master often finds himself in this ugly and uncomfortable chair at all. In fact, it had not been for more than a year that Severus had frequented this office for matters not pertaining to normal school duties. Not since Severus had made the biggest mistake of his life, well the second biggest mistake of his life. The first of his most grievous offenses was joining in leagues with that Snake-Faced git he now referred to as his Dark Lord.

He was just a stupid child who felt like the world was against him. The Dark Lord was the first person to make him feel both accepted and valued, he saw the talent Severus had with potions. At least that is how the Dark Lord made it seem to Severus, what he really needed was someone to brew potions for himself and all his lackeys. The fact that Severus had just accepted a teaching position under the nose of the Dark Lord's fiercest rival was not over looked either.

Severus assumed the day that he took the dark mark would begin the best days of his life, finally respected. Instead, his time as a Death Eater was filled with trying to one up his peers in order to find better favor. What else should he have expected off a group composed solely out of ambitious Slytherins. The other part of his time was spent trying to stay alive by not saying or thinking the wrong thing. Severus was fortunate that occlumency came so easily to him, if the Dark Lord were to become aware of how much Severus despised the people here and the things they did could mean the end for him. Each torment and death of a defenseless muggle, each time someone with rank made a mistake and was so easily torn apart by the same people they called friend, each senseless killing made Severus question his place here. That didn't mean Severus didn't participate, he did not have a death sentence, he went through the motions. He was not yet part of the inner most circle, yet he longed to be. He held out hope that once he was finally completely trusted by the Dark Lord that things would get better.

 _Idiot._

It was that train of thought that lead to the second biggest mistake of his life, relaying that blasted prophecy to the Dark Lord. Severus thought he had been given a gift on a platter when he overhead the prophecy spew out of Sybill Tralawney's disembodied mouth, how was he to know it was in reference to Lily's family. Truthfully, Severus always assumed that prophecies were a load of codswallop. The Dark Lord was not of the same mind and in was not two days after Severus had relayed the prophecy to him that plans to kill the Potter's were starting to form.

Since the moment that the Dark Lord had made clear to Severus that it was in deed the Potter's who had defied him thrice and that it was their snotty-nosed brat of a child that would somehow bring an end to his rein, Severus was through and through Dumbledore's. The very same night that Lily Potter became a target Severus found himself on his knees begging for forgiveness to this headmaster. No matter what the Dark Lord told him about sparing Lily, he could not get on board with killing her family, no matter his feelings towards Potter, his death and their son's would crush Lily. Severus found it ironic that the very action that finally propelled him into the Dark Lord's inner circle was the same action that ultimately was the proverbial final straw on the camels back that broke Severus into switching sides.

So, Severus began his life as a double agent, spying for the Order while pretending to spy for the Dark Lord. This was his punishment, his way to finally atone for the sins of this past, he fully expected to spend what was left of his poor and pitiful life trying to make up for the people he tortured and killed in the name of a madman. No one but Dumbledore himself knew of Severus' true alliance, it was long assumed that the Dark Lord had spies in the Order of Phoenix and the information Severus was suppling was enough to get him killed twice over should it slip out. Severus was alone on his mission, bound by oath to spend the rest of his nights sipping tea and retelling secrets to a pair of light blue eyes hidden behind half-moon spectacles.

 _Lucky me._

Tonight was a special night for Severus; with the school year drawing to a close this was seen as Severus' welcome back party. It had started with dinner and drinks at the manor with Lucius and Narcissa, they had of course invited those of the inner circle with high enough rank and tasteful enough manors to associate with people of their social standing; the Notts, Averys, Dolohovs, among a handful of others. The Lestranges barley made the cut due to family association only, Rodolphus was a slag who no one wanted near their wives and Bellatrix... well she was the product of inbreeding gone wrong. You have to be some level of crazy to be considered the barmiest by a group that tortures and kills people for fun.

The night went on as most of these events went, when you have a room full of ambitious Slytherins you night is going to be filled with thinly-veiled insults and declarations of superiority disguised as normal conversation. Severus had not been around most of these people since winter break and information was a commodity that was being freely given tonight without much prompting. He made sure the memorize the important and unimportant tidbits of information he was picking up, Dumbledore would want it all. The night was beginning to draw to a natural end, which meant the beginning of the real party of Severus. Wives were sent home, save Bellatrix of course, Narcissa disappeared to another wing of the house to tend to Severus' godson Draco, and all the curtains were drawn.

The Dark Lord apparated in, not alone but with three other Death Eaters each holding an unconscious person, they were placed to the side as the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters took their proper places at the long banquet table dominating the room. The Dark Lord began his speech, giving and receiving updates on certain tasks that had been distributed among the ranks, praise was giving out over successes and failures were paid for in screams. Finally, the Dark Lord addressed Severus asking for what had happened this past term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Severus divulged the information that Dumbledore had crafted for this very moment, enough truth mixed in with lies to pacify the Dark Lord without putting Order members at risk. The Dark Lord was pleased with Severus' offering. Though it was no surprise to Severus when the Dark Lord announced it was time for him to receive his punishment for being away for so long, Severus knew this was coming. After winter term it had been the same, Severus was at least somewhat prepared this time.

One by one, the inner circle of Death Eaters got a go at him, all wishing to please their master. The first time Severus was exposed to the _Crucio_ curse was the night that he received his mark, it was a pain unlike any other, he had screamed and cried out for relief, prayed for unconsciousness, and secretly wished for death. Severus had felt weak, exposed, and belittled; from that moment he had a made a vow to himself to never react to the pain outwardly. _Crucio_ really is an interesting spell, it isn't something you can adjust to or numb to the pain. It is an assault on the mind, a mental attack that causes all the pain receptors in your body to react. If Severus was anything, it was mentally strong.

So, as he laid on the floor, limbs sprawled out in weird angles with the pain of 100 knives penetrating his body, his face remained stoic and he did not utter a word. It was a point of contention between the other Death Eaters to be the one to make Severus break, Bellatrix especially wanted to be the one to finally breach the potion masters walls. Though he had been away for some time and thus out of practice, Severus managed to maintain his vow to himself on this night.

The Dark Lord had congratulated Severus as he pulled himself unsteadily from the floor, insisting that the length of his absence was now forgiven. He then motioned for the three unconscious bodies brought in early to be brought to the center of the room.

 _A gift,_ that is was the Dark Lord called them.

A muggle family of three, Severus' to do with as he pleased. He tried to make it as painless as possible but there was only so much he could do and not blow his cover. He put on a show for the spectators, but his spells did not quite pack as much of a punch as it appeared. Either way, their deaths fall onto him and he alone will be the one judged in the next life.

The night had ended there, at least for everyone else in attendance. Severus had bowed to his Dark Lord, said his goodbyes to those deemed necessary, and thanked Lucius for hosting before making a swift exit from the premisses. Once he hit the apparation site, he spun on a heel and was back under the looming shadow of the large castle, ready to attend to his other master.

* * *

That's how Severus found himself tonight, sat rigid in the uncomfortable scarlet chair, retelling Dumbledore of who was killed, what information had been recovered, and what was planned for the future. Dumbledore, as always, brewed a cup of tea for the both of them and let Severus tell his whole tale before asking questions. There were always questions or points of clarification.

While there had been a lot of cover this meeting, one singular piece of information was valued above the rest. Dolohov had boasted to Rowel about how the Dark Lord had given him a very special task, unknowingly letting Severus in on the next target, an Order member this time, Caradoc Dearborn a ministry worker in the Department of Magical Creatures. Severus and Dumbledore had traded ideas on why Dearborn was singled out, it had long been suspected that Voldemort would make a play to sway the giants and werewolves, maybe this was his first move. Dumbledore was pleased with the information but Severus could only think of the three muggles that lost their life for an Order member.

"We can't save them all Severus," Dumbledore reasoned, "if you were there or not, these muggles would have died today, painfully. You made it a swifter and cleaner death for all of them."

Severus had no response, instead he began pulling his memories from the night out of his mind and placing them in a vial for Dumbledore, he always like to reanalyze the meetings, make certain that Severus did not leave anything out. This also meant that for the third time tonight Severus was reliving the experience, it wouldn't be the last, he would see them again in his dreams.

Once finished, Dumbledore rose from his desk, collected the vial from Severus and started to make his way towards the pensive. He had not gone all of two steps when there was a small tremor in the room, it was just strong enough to be noticeable, the tea left in Severus' cup rippling slightly. Severus immediately was standing, wand slipped from his sleeve ready for attack, he looked for the source of the disturbance.

"Severus," Dumbledore scowled, "put that away, it was probably just Peeves up to his usual nightly shenanigans." He had just finished speaking when there was another tremor, this one more pronounced than the previous, seeming to emanate from behind the headmaster's desk.

"Curious," Dumbledore said, now removing his own wand from the folds of his robe and moving back towards his desk.

Together the duo moved slowly and stealthily around desk, wands pointed at whatever they would find, they slowly rounded the corner and... _nothing_.

"Very curious indeed," Severus breathed as he lowered his wand, straightened, and turned to return to his disagreeable perch, just as he looked away another tremor hit.

The strongest one by far, things fell from the shelves lining the walls around the office. Severus braced himself on the edge of the desk as the floor continued to shake, next to him Dumbledore fell to his knees unable to remain upright with the force of the movement. Then, as suddenly as it began it ended, Severus helped the headmaster to his feet swiftly and was about to run a check on the wards of Hogwarts to see if the school was under attack when a strangled, feminine yell brought their attention back to behind the desk.

"Oh dear," Dumbledore moved around towards the girl - _no woman_ , laying prone in the space between the desk and shelf behind.

Severus followed after him, the girl looked like she had been through hell, the muggle clothes she was wearing were disheveled, covered in dirt and ash, and torn in several places. He hair was wild, curly by nature it looked out of control and containing as much dirt and ash as her clothes, her wand was grasped fiercely in her right hand, she was not moving but her rugged breathing and piercing moans proved that she was both alive and in pain.

Dumbledore bent down next to her and began to move to remove the wand from her grasp, that's when Severus noticed the deep purple, almost back veins starting in her hand and disappearing up into her shirt sleeve... "Stop," Severus called out.

"Severus the girl is unconscious and obviously in a lot of pain, I do not think I need worry about her harming me."

Severus quickly moved over to the girl, moving Dumbledore out of the way and placing himself in the vacant space, "Don't touch her, she has been hit with a blood curse."

Dumbledore quickly scanned her body and took notice of the dark veins emanating from her hand holding the wand, "Good catch my boy, do you recognize it?"

"Unfortunately I do, we are going to need to move her down to my lab eventually but we must ensure that we do not come in contact with her skin. I am going to need to run diagnostic test to ensure that there is nothing else that could interfere with the potions I am going to need to administer to her."

Severus began to run the proper tests; this woman had been hit with a myriad stunners and jinxes along with the Cruciatus curse in the last hours alone. This would make his job more difficult, he needed to see how much the blood curse had progressed. Carefully he pulled the sleeve back on her arm, touching only the fabric of her jumper, it was worse than he expected.

"We need to move her now," Severus called to Dumbledore who was currently running around the office trying to discern how on Earth the woman got here in the first place.

Severus turned back to the woman to begin to figure out a way to move her and was met with dark, earthy brown eyes alight with recognition, "You're alive."

Her voice was scratchy and struggled to come out, but Severus was more impressed with the fact that she not only managed to open her eyes but form coherent words.

"She knows you Severus," Dumbledore moved into focus and the woman's eyes shifted to him, more recognition and then confusion. Her eyes squeezed shut as another pulse of agony swept through her and then in a blink of an eye she was blacked out.

"We need to move her. Now."

* * *

Author's Note:

Let me know what you think. Thanks to everyone who has favorited/followed! Special thanks to Lucyole, Smithback, dethwatch, and my guest for reviewing! It means so much to me!


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

There was no transition from slumber into wakefulness for Hermione. One moment there was darkness and the next she was simply present and conscious to that around her, which was uniquely unidentifiable. Not wanting to give away her consciousness, Hermione chose to keep her eyes shut while taking inventory of herself. She was laid in a large bed, cocooned in soft sheets that felt nice against her skin. Slightly stretching her body she found nothing broken or out of place, rather there was just an overarching ache that spreed from her core and reached out to the limbs of her body. Her wand hand was bandaged loosely in a scratchy material, flexing her fingers slightly, the skin of her palm felt tight and scabbed over.

Physically she felt fine, mentally...

She felt as if she was missing something, like there was a piece to the puzzle that needed to be put into place to make everything come together. Though her mind was clear, her memory seemed foggy. She remembered escaping Gringotts on the back of the battered and blind dragon, apparating to Hogsmeade, setting off the alarms and barely making it into the Hogs Head without being caught. The trio had discovered that Aberforth had been the one to send Dobby to them, they then had traveled to Hogwarts through the portrait with Neville-

 _Neville, dead._

That triggered a cascade of thoughts for Hermione, suddenly all the memories of the battle came flying back into her mind. One friend after another she saw tortured and murdered. Her throat became constricted and tight, the air seemed to be lacking in the room around her. Harry. Ron. Neville. Ginny. Luna. Tonks. Remus. McGonagall. Snape.

 _Snape_?

A flash of a young Severus Snape, eyes filled with both worry and question hovering above her went through her mind. That thought seemed to knock the air back into her lungs.

 _Where did that come from?_

She shook away that thought and instead made herself focus on what was most important currently- where was she?

By all accounts she should be dead, but if she was dead this aching pain was not what she expected. She needed to find out for sure.

Hermione dared a peak. Looking through a curtain of thick eye lashes she observed her surroundings. A tinge of relief flooded her when she recognized the cobbled stones composing the walls and ceilings.

 _I'm still at Hogwarts._

Another covert look revealed that she was indeed alone, but in a room that she was unfamiliar with. The room was small, adorned with humble furnishings; a dark stained dresser and matching writing desk, a large rug that covered the majority of the stone floor, and lastly the large bed, made of the same dark stained wood as the other furniture, which is where Hermione currently found herself. The room itself barely seemed lived in the only sign being on the desk a stack of parchment sitting next to a discarded quill and red ink bottle and a single hair comb laying atop the dresser. There was no window in the room to gauge what time of the day it was.

Hermione cautiously sat up and found that her initial overview of the state of her body was far off, she was definitely not physically fine. That ache that she identified became more prominent as she began to move, a look at her hands showed her veins to be a light grey color. A blood curse? Her dominate hand had bandages wound tightly around it, the skin underneath felt tight. With the aching pain came a metallic taste in Hermione's mouth, a clear liquid coating her tongue. The metallic taste seemed to snap Hermione out of the confused fog and into the seriousness of her present situation.

She may still be at Hogwarts but she was most definitely not safe. The last clear memories Hermione could bring up were of the light side losing. All of her friends either dead or dying, and Bellatrix's mad, craven eyes and maniacal laughter as she chased her throughout the castle.

Yes, she might still be in Hogwarts but she was most assuredly not safe and that meant one thing to Hermione. It was time to make a plan.

Ignoring the pain, Hermione threw her legs over the side of the bed she was laid in. Taking in her person, she found she was dressed in a plan, cotton white night gown that had long, loose sleeves and went down slightly past her knees. Her feet were bare, which became apparent when they came in contact with cold stone as she stood. Her knees were shaky as she slowly put her weight onto them.

Walking carefully, she began to search her space.

There were two identical doors in the room, one was slightly ajar and through which could be seen a small bathroom, the other door was shut closed. Hermione went first to the closed door, quietly as possible she pulled on the door- it didn't budge. She could sense the presence of magic and knew that there were some sort of wards keeping her in, she needed to find her wand.

Moving faster now she strode over to the small desk, she checked the drawers but only found more ink wells, quills, and parchment. In the dresser she was surprised to find the drawers contained mens clothing, simple sets of plain solid colored shirts and black trousers. She was clearly in a man's personal room, it was lived in but only just. There were no personal mementos; no meaningful pictures or family heirlooms. The bathroom was just as barren although she did find a large black cloak, which she gratefully slide over her shoulder to try and keep the creeping chill away. During her inspection of the medicine cabinet she did found a small straight blade razor. It might not be much but if she chose her moment right it could come in handy, she tucked it up into the sleeve of her nightgown.

Shifting back into the bedroom she spotted the papers on the desk again, maybe some clue about her captor could be found in them. The topmost paper was titled _Moonstones and Its Uses_ , Hermione read down the sloppily written and occasionally inaccurate essay, whomever the writer was obviously did not fully grasp Moonstone and their uses as of yet. Shifting to the next paper Hermione was intrigued to see that is was title _The Many Uses of Moonstones,_ only this essay was distinctly different in that the margins were heavily marked in a somewhat familiar, but not altogether easy to place handwriting.

A professor's room.

Starting at the top of the page she began to read down the essay but only got a few sentences in when she heard movement on the other side of the warded door. Putting the papers down haphazardly, Hermione spun on her heel to face the door, straightening her back and rising her chin she waited with faux confidence as the wards slowly dropped one by one.

The knob on the door turned and Hermione found herself face to face with a very astonished Severus Snape, only this was not the Severus Snape she knew. This, in fact was the Severus Snape from that foggy memory, not the Severus Snape of her time, this Snape was younger. That much was obvious. His stature was the same but he seemed lighter somehow, not quite teenage gangly but still not yet formed into the man she knew. He was wearing all black, Severus Snape in anything else would just seem odd, but while the color was there the precise tailoring was not, robes hanging awkwardly on his frame. His hair was the same length, but it did not look to oily like his older counterpart, rather it was just shinny and not a limp. His face was similar with its sharp features still intact and the signature crooked nose was present, but the expression was not the familiar cool mask of disdain.

No, in fact, there was no mask present at all. As he stood before Hermione, she was easily able to read the emotions as they flew across his features. Initially, his eyes lit up in surprise, followed shortly by the furrowing of his brow in uncertainty, Hermione tracked the wand in his hand tighten slightly at this point, before he relaxed it as realization and acceptance settled into his face.

He took a small tentative step into the room, leaving the door behind him partially ajar. Hermione could see the glow from a fire illuminating the potion master's study, which she knew was connected directly to his classroom.

She was in the dungeons. In Professor Snape's bedroom. With a much younger Professor Snape.

What the hell happened to her.

As Snape took another step closer to her, Hermione took a step back bumping into the desk and offsetting the well of red ink and causing to tip over and roll close to the edge of the desk. Snape instantly stopped moving and raised his hands in front of him, wand still held loosely in one, as if he were approaching a wild horse and trying not to spook it.

Hermione did not take her eyes of Snape and neither one of them moved, both studying each other from opposite sides of the small room. The only noise was the occasional crack from the fire in the other room and the steady dropping of ink as it spilled over the edge of the desk and onto the stone floor below. Each person waiting on the other to make the first move.

Snape cracked first, lowering his hands he backed up until he leaned against the wall that was shared with the bathroom. He studied her for another second before letting go a long breath, "Who are you?"

The question held in the air between them, if there were any doubts that this was not Severus Snape they were dashed away. They might not look exactly the same, but the voice was identical.

Pieces were beginning to come together in Hermione's brain, there was only one reason Snape would both be younger and not know who she was.

 _Impossible._

Instead of answering his question she chose to respond with one of her own, "Where is my wand?"

Her voice came out scratchy and hurt her throat, like her vocal cords had become rusty after disuse, she became aware now how thirsty she was. It felt as if she had not spoken for a long time.

He lifted his left eyebrow at her question, a very Severus Snape move. "It is in safe hands," he stated simply, but Hermione knew a lie and clocked his motions. A small, almost non-discernible twitch of a hand gave him away, a very non-Severus Snape move.

She blinked at him, giving away nothing and nodded.

A drawn out silence once again filled the space between them.

Snape cleared his throat and said in his most sneering voice, "I do believed I answer your question, now it is only polite for you to return the favor."

Condescending git, Hermione decided to take a risk, "I would like to see Professor Dumbledore first."

His eyes narrowed and considered her question.

"Your name first," he snapped sharply, suddenly on edge.

She tensed internally, but kept a calm and relaxed demeanor, "Professor Dumbledore." Hermione knew she was being impertinent, but she needed to minimize her exposure until she could connect all the dots.

Snape's eyes flashed at her statement and Hermione saw his wand hand twitch, she felt her magic respond to the sudden change in environment. An idea started to formulate in her mind as she became aware of his rising temper. She needed to settle him down, then she could try her idea.

Her very stupid idea.

Hermione let out a long and shaky breath, she allowed her shoulders and head to drop down slightly and adverted her eyes to watch the ink fall to the floor next to her. As she leaned over to set up the fallen well she peaked a glance and noticed Snape's ire had deflated and his wand arm had slackened. This was it.

Hermione clumsily knocked over ink well off the desk, Snape moved as if to stop its fall to the floor. As Snape moved in Hermione backed away. Just as the glass shattered onto the floor Hermione quietly muttered, " _Accio,"_ to Severus Snape's back.

The familiar 10 3/4" vine wand zoomed out of the unsuspecting man's pocket and into Hermione's waiting hand. She had always had a knack for wandless magic. Snape had enough time to turn a surprised look over his shoulder before being hit squarely in the chest with a _Stupefy_ flinging him back into the desk.

Tsk, old Severus Snape would have never fallen for that.

Moving quickly now, Hermione collected the stunned mans wand, tucked it into her sleeve and took off. She wasn't sure how long Snape would be out but she knew she did not want to be present when he awoke. She ran barefoot through the potion master's study, out into his familiar classroom and into the adjacent hallway. Hermione did not stop as she made her way out of the dungeons and up to the third floor, it almost seemed like the castle was helping her. Each staircase that she came to directed her in the right direction, once she hit the third floor corridor she dashed to the familiar gargoyles that jumped aside without needed of password. As she climbed the spiral staircase she had to push aside an eire sense of _deja vu_.

She didn't bother knocking on the large oak door, rather opting to yank it open, rush in, and slam it closed behind her. She leaned heavily on the door, the ache that she had been trying to push aside was back in full throttle. Her mouth was full of metallic liquid that made her nauseous and she was finding it hard to catch her breath, each one coming more labored than the previous. Even though she had just ran a significant distance, she found her body to be freezing and unable to retain heat. She was acutely aware of the pulse of her heartbeat, each one spreading the pain further through her system. She was about to fall to the floor when a small cough made her eyes shoot open.

Albus Dumbledore in the flesh. Where there were striking changes between the Severus Snape she knew and this version, Professor Dumbledore looked exactly the same. Sitting behind the large desk, correspondence letters spaced out in front of him, he did not look shocked in the least to see Hermione.

"My dear, you look like you've had quite the night," he said, over the rim of his half-moon spectacles. "Don't you worry, nothing a cup of tea can't fix, come have a seat," He gestured to an overside high-backed, Gryffindor scarlet chair.

Hermione nodded and on shaky knees made her way into the chair; there was no easy was to sit in it, it was too deep and too plush. Decorum be damned, Hermione thought. She pushed herself all the way to the back of the chair an pulled her legs up after her, tucking in her feet underneath her. Still cold, she gathered the large black cloak around her in a makeshift blanket. Hermione felt like a small child curled up in the chair, at least she was comfortable and getting warm. The metallic taste was still in her mouth though, and the ache was not diminishing.

A comfortable silence descended as Professor Dumbledore put a tea kettle on over the fire, after he finished he moved back over behind his desk, took his seat, and offered Hermione a small smile.

"I take it from your rushed state that we should be expecting my potion's master in here shortly?"

Hermione blushed at his comment, paused for a moment, and then dug Snape's wand out from the sleeve of her nightgown. She gingerly placed it on the desk in front of her as if producing it would somehow summon its master.

Professor Dumbledore produced a small chuckle, "I see, well I should prepare my office as best I can." He took out his own wand and began to the rearrange the decor, tucking some of the more breakable items into high shelves and random drawers and producing a large amount of rather ugly mix-matched pillows and putting them in strategically placed spots throughout the office.

When the tea kettle rang out Dumbledore jumped up to grab it, using a gaudy periwinkle mitten he brought the hot pot over to the desk. He pour Hermione a cup first and let her dress it herself. She put in a dash of cream and opted to just hold the cup for a bit, letting the warmth from the cup seep into her hands. Dumbledore had just finished fixing his own cup when the sound of the gargoyles moving aside echoed into the room.

Hermione froze, she tried her best to sink herself into the overly plush cushions of the chair and make herself as small as possible. She locked eyes with Dumbledore and he gave her a small wink just before the doors to the officer were burst open.

"Ah Severus, what good timing you have," Dumbledore gushed to the man behind me. "We were just about to have a nice cup of tea, do you want one or two lumps in yours?"

* * *

What? Another chapter? Yes, I have not given up on this story! I have just been super busy. Once again thanks for all the favorites/follows and biggest thanks to reviews, they quite literally keep me going! Tell me what you think, I can take it.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Severus POV**

Severus was surprised when he found the girl awake and moving around.

He was curious at immediate defensive pose she took and the almost instinctual way she was taking in her surroundings.

He was vexed by the way she refused to identify herself, he had been waiting nearly a fortnight for an answer to that particular question.

He was confused with how she responded to his ire, the fight she had been showing deflated and the woman seemed almost defeated. She had seemed so small and fragile, drowning in his long cloak and barefooted on the cobbled stone.

He had dropped his wand and his guard.

Now Severus was incensed, storming through the castle up to the headmaster's quarters robes billowing ominously behind him.

 _Who the fuck did this twit think she was._

Severus had awoken with his face pressed into the cold floor and limbs strewn about at odd angles. It took him a few seconds to figure out what had occurred and even less to notice that he was no longer in possession of his wand. Anger at being tricked by a poor act from a pretty face left Severus seeing red and storming his way to the headmaster's office to report that the girl had disappeared.

Scaling the revealed staircase he hadn't bothered to knock when entering, rather he found flinging the large oak door ajar more satisfying. The scene he entered to incensed him further.

Sitting in the blasted scarlet chair, wrapped tightly in _his_ favorite traveling cloak with a warm cup of tea nestled in her grasp was the girl. She was pointedly starring in any direction that was not Severus. Laying in front of her on Dumbledore's desk was his wand.

If looks could kill the girl would be a pile of ash from the intense stare Severus was administering.

"Ah Severus, what good timing you have," Dumbledore gushed to me. "We were just about to have a nice cup of tea, do you want one or two lumps in yours?"

Severus strode forward and snatched his wand up off the table, quickly sheathing it in the sleeve of his robes. "I'll pass," he gritted out between clenched teeth.

"Very well," Dumbledore said cheerily, either ignorant or ignoring Severus' foul mood. He continued dithering around putting away objects and generally making busy work before finally conjuring up a simple wooden chair and motioned to it. "Do have a seat, Severus, it does no good to loom over the girl."

Severus went to make a scathing reply but quickly shut it after a pointed look from the headmaster. Looking down at the girl he noticed that if possible she seemed to have shrunken even more into the cushions in an attempt to contort her body as far away from his form as possible. Obviously, he was scaring the girl.

Taking a deep breath, he proudly walked over the offered chair and sat down. He formed his face to a mask of indifference and let the anger he felt for being bested fade away.

Dumbledore also took his seat behind his desk, a friendly smile gracing his wrinkled face. "Now," Dumbledore began turning his eyes to the girl, "my potion's master here and I would love to hear your tale, Miss... I don't believe we have properly been introduced."

* * *

 **Hermione POV**

Hermione forced herself to keep her eyes on the kind blue ones across from her and not on the angry ones to her right that she could feel boring into her.

At Dumbledore's invitation, she dug herself out of the plush prison she had slowly been sinking into and considered her reply to his request.

The truth, though as impossible at it seemed, was staring her right in the face. She had gone back in time. Something happened that night in this very office. What exactly had occurred she could not quite piece together. There were so many moving pieces during the battle, just what caused Hermione's predicament she could not place. Just how far she had gone back was also a mystery to her. Far enough back that neither of the two men starring expectantly at her knew who she was.

Hermione found herself at an impasse. In her third year, Professor McGonagall drove the rules of time travel into her memory. The importance of not affecting the future only became more important the farther back you went. One mistake could change everything once you returned to your time. That was assuming that Hermione was ever going to get back. Hermione could be stuck in this time forever, wherever it is she happened to currently be.

Mind racing she had almost forgotten about her audience, that is of course until she felt a tickle on the conscious of her mind. She almost missed it at first, it was just the barest of flutters on the surface of her thoughts. She had to thank the countless hours spent with Harry trying to teach him occlumency for even being able to recognize it.

The detection though put Hermione on high alert and her head shot towards the man in black sitting to her right, "I did not give you permission to enter my thoughts, sir."

Her voice came out stronger than expected and eyes were small slits, ablaze in fury at his intrusion.

She noticed he drew back away from her slightly, a small furrow developed in the space between Snape's brows. He was just opening his mouth with a retort when her attention was diverted by a soft chortle coming from across the desk.

"Sorry my dear," said Professor Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye, "couldn't help myself."

 _It was Dumbledore?_

Hermione reddened when she realized her mistake and she stole a quick glance at Snape whose face had returned to a sheet of unreadable glass. She relaxed the ridged state she had taken but left the walls in her mind up, not wanting to give away anything unintentionally. The interruption to her thoughts helped form a more focused plan going forward.

First deal with the big question.

Clearing her throat she asked confidently, "What is today's date?"

Simple enough.

"May the 9th," Dumbledore answered promptly.

Hermione hesitated for a second before continuing, "...of what year?"

Dumbledore did not respond to her follow up question other than bringing his hands together in front of him and reclining slightly in his chair, a knowing look entering his blue eyes.

A beat more of silence before Snape, seemingly irritated by the long pause, responded sharply with, "1981."

Hermione let out a deep breath she did not realize she was holding. Seventeen years.

Seventeen years.

She would be alive, living happily and blissfully unaware of the magical world in Hampstead.

 _Or would she?_

Magic like this has never occurred as far as Hermione had studied. Time-turners could only take a person five hours back in time safely. Any attempts at going further had always resulted in terrible outcomes, but even then that had only been limited to a few days at most.

There had only ever been one documented account of time traveling more than a few days and the thought of it caused a shiver to go down Hermione's back. Eloise Mintumble who went back 400 years for five full days after combining an experimental spell with time turner sand. When the Department of Mysteries figured out how to bring her back entire generations of families disappeared in the blink of an eye. When Eloise returned to the present she aged those 400 years in mere hours and died shortly after returning at St Mungo's.

Would that be Hermione's fate?

 _No._

Eloise Mintumble had an entire wizarding community looking for a way to bring her back, along with detailed notes that were left behind. Hermione had suddenly vanished in the middle of a battle. Bellatrix was the only person present when she disappeared, and Hermione highly doubted that Bellatrix was going to be looking for her too hard. Anyone who would care to bring Hermione back to her time was dead.

They were all dead.

Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny... even the two men in front of her.

Hermione's throat grew tight and she found that her eyes held more moisture than normal.

Even if Hermione could return, what kind of world would she be going back to? One where people that came from muggle families were treated as slaves and criminals? A world where the merit of one's ability was strictly based on the perceived pureness of their blood? If she were to somehow find a way to return, she would be killed or worse.

It dawned on Hermione that there was no going back for her, but what kind of life could she have here?

Dumbledore cleared his throat, "I feel that you have quite the story to tell us Miss, but maybe its best if we just start with your name."

Hermione thought about the implications of telling Dumbledore everything, time would be changed forever.

Maybe this was her chance to fix things.

It went against everything that Hermione believed in, her place in the golden trio had always been obvious. Ron and Harry were the ones to break the rules and she tagged along to try and mitigate the damage they caused.

But if there was a chance to change everything. To stop the prophecy and defeat Voldemort before death and destruction consumed the wizarding world.

 _What did she have to lose?_

If she did not succeed she may just bring on death and destruction quicker. Not succeeding wouldn't be an option, even if it meant forfeiting her life.

Clearing her throat she spoke up, "Hermione Granger."

"Granger," Dumbledore repeated back, "I don't believe I have ever heard of a British wizarding family by that name, and I know most wizarding children even if they end up attending Beauxbatons or Drumstrang."

Hermione shook her head. "You wouldn't know my family, you see..." She hesitated here, after this there would be no going back.

There was a pregnant pause.

"I am from seventeen years into the future."

Dumbledore's eyebrows furrowed together trying to put pieces together.

Severus Snape let out a slow, dry laugh before being the first to react.

"All the asinine stories to come up with and time traveler is one you want to go with?"

* * *

 **Author's Note**

It's a short one I know, but life has gotten crazy busy these past few months and I haven't been able to work on this story like I wanted to. I promise the next one will be thicc. As always thanks for the reviews! They are sooo helpful! Tell me what you think.

K.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Asinine.

No one calls Hermione Jean Granger foolish.

Bristling at his comment Hermione focused in on her former professor and for the first time took a real look at him. He looked remarkably different from the man she once knew but still identifiable at the same time. His chalk white skin was more youthful and pulled taut over his boney frame, his stature was identical but he had not yet grown into his gangly height. He looked as if he had not had a proper meal in months. His hair was straight and midnight black, reaching his shoulders and looking as if it needed good conditioning. Jawline and cheekbones framing his large and crooked nose but overall it fit in with the sharp angles of the rest of his face.

If Hermione had ever mistaken the man for anyone but Severus Snape, one look into his eyes and she would've known instantly. Cold eyes that inspected and criticized her every move in potions for years, eyes that shone with glee and a smartly placed bard, and eyes that she watched the life seep out of on the hard floor of the Shrieking Shack in a pool of his own blood.

Hermione was the only one in the trio who never believed the worse in Severus Snape. As hard and Harry and Ron tried, they could never make Hermione waiver from her belief in both Dumbledore's confidence and the man himself. Then he cast the killing curse on Albus Dumbledore in the Astronomy tower on that warm spring night and she didn't know what to believe. He was a master spy all along, a double agent inside the Order.

Still, even after his betrayal, things did not add up for Hermione. She struggled to believe that he was able to so cleverly fool Dumbledore, that given all the opportunities he had to hand over Harry he never once did. His actions as Headmaster proved how cruel he could be but by then he would have been completely under the eye of Voldemort. It was suspicious to Hermione that more of the Order was not discovered after Snape killed Dumbledore, there would be no reason for him to continue to keep the Order's secrets after outing himself so obviously.

Then there was the Shrieking Shack and his memories...

What Hermione would have given to be able to see those memories. Somehow, they changed Harry. They made Harry walk into the woods that night confidently. They made him understand that the only chance the light had to defeat Voldemort was to sacrifice himself. The way that Severus looked at Harry as the memory tears streaked down his face and the life faded from his eyes- he could not have been all bad.

That did not mean she was planning on telling him anything of the future.

"I am telling the truth, but I refuse to say any more with this man in the room," Hermione spoke heatedly to Dumbledore and pointed a stern finger in Snape's direction.

Snape stood up fuming, "I am as much a part of this as you, I will not be dismissed."

"And I have the right to tell or not tell whomever I please."

"Spread your lies more like! No one in the recorded history of magic has traveled back more than a few hours in time without dire consequences- let alone 17 years."

Snape was now looming over Hermione. If looks could kill, Hermione would be a pile of ash.

"I am not lying," Hermione ground out between clenched teeth.

"Prove it." Snape challenged.

"I don't need to prove anything to a Death Eater."

Snape visibly flinched at the name, something Snape from Hermione's time would never have shown. Defiantly, Hermione starred back into his raging irises.

Dumbledore chose this moment to speak up, "That is a sever claim you are making Miss Granger, should the wrong person hear that our young Severus could find himself in a heaping of trouble."

"You do not deny that you are a Death Eater," Hermione was still looking at the potions master, unfazed by the headmaster's words.

There was a tense moment before Snape sunk back into the hard wooden chair. "And this is my reward for saving your ungrateful life, prejudice from a little girl who knows nothing."

This made Hermione pause.

She dropped her eyes from Snape's, she had not considered exactly what had occurred when

she came back. _Snape had saved her life?_

It had been May 2, 1997, during the Battle of Hogwarts when the incident occurred that brought her here, assuming she came back on that same day this year, that would leave seven days unaccounted for. Pulling back the sleeve on her wand hand she inspected the bandage binding her hand, it was precisely done with care and thought.

Right before she was ripped from her time Bellatrix was sending something her way...

"I..." Hermione started but did not finish. Thinking on Snape's earlier words, _dire consequences_ , she needed to be careful with what she chose to reveal. Things would have to line up exactly as they should in order to not have the same outcome of her time... or worse. Hermione needed to do what she did best, gather all the facts and variables and make a plan.

Hermione for the first time in her life was at a loss for words, there were too many trains of thought to try and stay focused on one.

Looking up at Snape again, "Thank you, that is for saving my life. I am not sure how I got here or what state I was in, but I am sure that I would not have survived without you."

Snape grunted in response.

"My hand… the veins, was it a blood curse?"

A curt nod from the potions master.

Blood curses were extremely dangerous because they were so specific to the caster of the curse. The caster has to truly mean it and put a large portion of their magic behind the curse for it to be successful on any level. An under skilled witch or wizard could easily drain themselves of their magic from performing blood magic, especially something as dark a blood curse.

To be able to heal someone of a blood curse took just as much, if not more talent than casting one.

"How did you know?" Hermione spoke much softer now, the fire from earlier having dissipated with the realization of how close she had come to death.

Though Hermione had cooled, Severus was much more practiced in holding onto his anger. That being said, his words came out harsh even to his own ears when he spat, "You're not the first women I have seen on the other end of Bella's fury."

The thought sent shivers down Hermione's spine, what kind of end would she have meet had she not been thrown back in time and landed in front of the probably only person who could have saved her.

Silence flooded the room for a few minutes as Hermione collected her thoughts.

Making a decision she shifted to the Headmaster, "I need time- a day or two. To figure out what I can and cannot tell you- both of you." Hermione amended just as Snape went to make an objection. "I would like to tell you about the time I came from, but I am afraid of making things worse. I need to make a plan if you'll allow me?"

The men looked back and forth between each other but it was the headmaster who spoke, "Of course dear, take the time you need."

Hermione let go of a breath she did not realize she was holding.

"You will need to remain here on the grounds for safekeeping, of course," Dumbledore tagged on at the end.

Hermione nodded at this, she expected nothing less. There were no other places Hermione would prefer to be right now besides Hogwarts.

While thinking about the arrangements that were going to have to be made a thought struck Hermione, "Headmaster, when I arrived I should have had a small, beaded bag tied to my waist, do you happen to know of it?"

A sheepish smile adorned Dumbledore's face as he began to shuffle through a side drawer in his desk, "I'll admit I have tried desperately to gain entry into this bag of yours, I do believe there is some sort of muggle taboo about looking through a women's purse."

He laughed quietly at his own remark before producing the familiar beaded handbag and offering it to Hermione, "You must be very skilled in charms for I was unable to breach the wards, everything I did seemed to as injury to the face of the purse."

Gingerly, Hermione reclaimed her only possessions in this world, its weight in her hands sent a surge of hope to her heart. A few of the bead lines were now frayed and missed beads, but besides that, it was in the exact same condition. The headmaster was correct, if anyone besides the trio tried to access the bag it would stop them, a forced entry would destroy the object. It held too many secrets for some snatcher or Death Eater to possess.

Gently she unclasped the opening, peaking inside everything looked to be there; a large stack of toppled over books, several vials of numerous potions, a now empty portrait that use to hold Phineas Nigellus Black, Perkins' magical tent, amongst many other would have everything she needed, plus some within the confines of the small lilac bag.

Hugging the bag tightly to her chest Hermione for the first time thought, _I just might be able to pull this off._

* * *

The school was still in session, the term was not set to end for another month and that left Hermione feeling nostalgic and melancholy.

For her, it was just yesterday that in these very hallowed halls her friends and classmates were torn down and murdered one by one. Hearing the current students complaining about final examinations and joyfully planning their summer holidays made Hermione ache for simpler times when that was her in their footsteps. It had been so long since she had been allowed to study for tests and plan for her future with the pressing matter of surviving to the next week always hanging over her head.

She was envious of the freedom these students had to grow up to become whomever they wanted to be.

Ironically, that was also what motivated Hermione the most. These children with their lives ahead of them would get to be whatever they wanted, for now. If things continued down the path of her time it was only a matter of years before _their_ lives and _their_ children's lives were thrown into _her_ war. The bright and cheery voices that echoed of the walls would turn silent, either in fear or death, unless Hermione did something.

That is what kept Hermione hunched the large desk that occupied the majority of the small room she was given to stay in. It was located on the fourth floor behind the statue of a crying woman that you must offer comforting words to in order to gain entry.

The room itself was used for guests visiting the school, intended only for short visits, and valued practicality over comfort. It was rarely used, Dumbledore informed her that it lay empty for some 40 years. It was three rooms in total the first being a small sitting room with a fireplace and two high-backed, velvet blue chairs. The fireplace would only be practical in the dead of winter, when the cold seeped into every part of the old castle and the heat would be necessary, any other time of the year the fire would melt everyone and everything within the confines of the miniscule sitting room.

The bedroom attached was the same size as the sitting room and had a window overlooking the lake and forbidden forest. It originally had a bed, dresser, and small desk, but Hermione rearranged and shrunk the dresser into a small trunk to hold to the meager amount of clothes she owned now and opted to increase the desk size exponentially.

Off of the bedroom was the lavatory, a simple bath and toilet, and a small mirror. It made the space fully functional and left Hermione little reason to need to leave her new living arrangement.

Which was beneficial seeing as she was now working like a mad woman to organize her course of action.

Roll after roll of parchment she filled with every detail that she could recall of what happened between this time and hers. Every smidge of information no matter how unimportant it might seem was recorded by Hermione's own hand.

For four days straight Hermione received no visitor; save the tiny house elf name Mimky that brought a tray of food to Hermione's desk three times a day. When the house-elf had first arrived Hermione was adamant that she did not need her service, which in turn made Mimky start punishing herself in anyway feasible within the small space. Somewhere between Mimky closing her hands in the desk drawers and knocking her head on the bedpost Hermione conceded and accepted the elf's service on the condition that she tell no one of what she see's in Hermione's room.

 _A battle for another day._

She slept when she must and ate while she rested her quill hand. Dumbledore stopped by twice and both times was not allowed entry and told that once she was finished he would be notified. After the second time when Hermione caught him staring intently at the papers over her shoulder, she just stopped answering the door. Mimky popped in any way, no one else should be bothering her.

Snape never made an appearance but his presence was made apparent the first time Mimky arrived with breakfast. An hour after Mimky had come and gone, Hermione had finally put her quill down long enough to eat the now cold food. Turning to the tray she was surprised to find sitting next to her poached eggs were three small vials and a crisply folded piece of parchment.

 _The small emerald vial before consuming food, the yellow opaque an hour after. The cloudy balm needs to be applied twice daily to the darkened veins and surrounding areas. -SS_

There were so many more important things to figure out that Hermione's physical health was studiously ignored, but the small note had Hermione aching to be able to ask what exactly was wrong with her.

She felt tired continuously, but Hermione found it hard to think of a time in the past 3 years since Voldemort's return that she didn't feel overwhelmingly tired. Her wand hand felt tight and hot, almost as if the blood beneath the skin was a few degrees hotter than the rest of her body, that she felt some concern for.

She had no doubt in Severus' ability and quickly consumed the correct potion and applied the balm, feeling grateful at the cool relief that the cloudy substance left on her skin. The coolness brought enough separation from the throbbing that Hermione was able to continue writing for the rest of the day. For the next three mornings her breakfast was accompanied by three new vials, but no more notes with them.

After four days of writing, remembering, and processing Hermione's quill came to a stop.

Looking at the piles of parchment lying in front of her she knew that somewhere in here was

the solution to everything. It was like each piece of information was a part of a puzzle that could be connected in a million different ways and have just as many different outcomes, but it was Hermione's job to put the pieces in the correct order.

Flexing her wand hand, Hermione straightened her back and confidently swished her wand in an arc over the papers, " _Tempus primus."_

The papers shuffled and flew about the small room, some even divided into pieces and rearranged themselves into patchwork new rolls. After several second the papers settled back down onto the desk, now a complete timeline of events starting from before anyone even knew the name, Tom Riddle.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Tell me what y'all think. Starting now the basis of the story is pretty much laid out, the next chapter deals with Hermione's plan going forward. Really excited to get into what I have planned for this story. Your suggestions are always appreciated!


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Hermione was gripping her stack of papers with such intensity that the tops of her fingernails were blanched white. She had waited an hour after the Great Hall should have been cleared for dinner before making her way to the headmaster's quarters. Surprise washed over her when the gargoyles once again moved without a prompt but she quickly made her way up the stairs not wanting to dawdle in the corridor too long.

Two crisp knocks.

"Enter," came the gentle voice behind the door.

A scene that was becoming familiar to Hermione was found on the other side of the large door. Professor Dumbledore was reclined comfortably behind his desk, dressed spectacularly in a canary-colored robe that looked ghastly against his pale skin. Severus Snape was dressed in his sharply tailored, bleak, black robes. One had to wonder how many sets of the same robes one man could own.

"Miss Granger, do make yourself comfortable," said Dumbledore. "We have been a buzz in anticipation since Mimky delivered your message this morning."

"I am sorry to have kept you waiting for so long, but I am nothing if not thorough," Hermione took a seat in the large armchair opposite of the headmaster.

"Good things come to those who wait, as the muggles say."

Hermione hesitated, "I do have to ask before we begin- meaning no offense to you sir," glancing quickly at the stoic man next to her, "but Professor Dumbledore are you entirely sure of Professor Snape's allegiance?"

Snape, surprisingly to Hermione, did not immediately get indignant at the question. Rather, it seemed that he was aware of what Dumbledore was going to say and was resigned to the outcome.

"If what you say is true Miss Granger and you are indeed from the future, then you have every right to be careful. I have the utmost confidence in young Severus here, but the two of us have come to an agreement. Anything you say here in this office will never reach the wrong hands, of that I am certain of," Professor Dumbledore had a small glint in his eye by the end of his statement.

The witch must have still looked skeptical because Dumbledore added on as an afterthought, "Severus would be willing to take an oath if you are so inclined."

Hermione physically shrank back into her seat, her head whipping over to the potion's master. He refused to meet her glance but overall did not seem surprised at the bold statement the Headmaster just made. This was there agreement? An unbreakable vow. An oath was binding, fatal if broken. It was not something any witch or wizard would take lightly, breaking of such an oath would be mean death.

"Would you be willing to take an oath?" Hermione asked Snape.

Snape's dark eyes met Hermione's briefly before he gave her a curt nod in ascension. His face was blank, she could not tell how he truly felt of the situation. Hermione had been teetering back and forth on what was Snape's purpose in all of this was, he was the piece of the puzzle that never quite fit in. She prayed that this would not prove to be the wrong move in the end.

"Then I trust you," Snape's right eyebrow cocked up at the statement but that was the only change to his otherwise mask of a face. Hermione would have never taken forced Snape into an oath, his willingness to take one was proof enough.

Turning to back to Dumbledore, "Shall we begin then?"

* * *

It was a long night.

Hermione had decided to bare the whole truth, every gritty piece of it, to the two professors sitting across from her. Through a combination of storytelling, memories viewed from a pensive, and excerpts read from pertinent textbooks that were in the beaded bag- Hermione told the story of Harry Potter.

The beginning was difficult. Hermione had organized a rough timeline of who died but was not clear on the exact dates of deaths, some of which had already come to pass. Edgar Bones and his family had been killed only six days before Hermione arrived back, Benjy Fenwick having been murdered two months previous. There were quite a few though that were still alive, Dorcas Meadowes had not yet perished by the hand of Voldemort himself and the McKinnon family had not yet been attacked.

Trepidatiously Hermione asked the fate of the Prewitt's, thinking of Molly Weasley and was relieved to hear that they were still alive.

When Hermione recalled the events of the upcoming Halloween she was surprised by the visceral reaction elicited by not only Dumbledore but almost more so Snape. His face went pale, even more so than usual, and Hermione could have sworn she saw the glint of fear in his eyes. A significant amount of time was spent going over the details of that night. Hermione read the excerpt from one of the modern history texts, gave her own retelling with details that she had aquired over the years, and even mangaged to dredge of memory of Dumbledore himself recounting the night. The prophecy, of which Hermione was surprised that Snape was aware of, was discussed in detail. They were shocked to hear of the betrayal of Peter Pettigrew, anger seeping into the eyes of the potion's master, "They trust him."

"Fully," Hermione agreed.

"Does he die?" Snape ground out.

Hermione shook her head, "Eventually."

"How did Harry survive?" Dumbledore asked pensively.

"His mother's sacrifice, at least that is what you believed it to be. Voldemort was never able to touch Harry again, well at least not until part of Harry's blood brought him back, but that is skipping ahead."

There was a substantial bit of time that nothing of great significance happened. Directly following the first downfall of Voldemort there was the rounding up of Death Eaters, and Hermione went ahead and gave a full list of known Death Eaters. Though, to the chagrin of Snape, quite a few of them escaped punishment. The torture of the Longbottom's was hard to take in, especially the memory that Hermione shared of Neville's parents in St. Mungo's Hospital from Hermione's fifth year. Snape seemed pleased when Hermione recounted that Sirius Black spent the better part of twelve years in Azkaban for a crime that he did not commit.

From then on the majority of Hermione's story was told through memories, the events that she had experienced. The memories at first were painful for Hermione to re-experience, walking through the viewpoint of an adolescent Hermione was worse than she anticipated. She was eager to prove herself, nauseatingly so, and such that Hermione was pleased that there were few memories from the first three years at Hogwarts that needed to be relived. She spent a lot of time clarifying questions, speculating on various people's agencies and motives.

A lot of the memories she selected were more for context than anything else; first-year sorting ceremony, Harry's scar hurting around Professor Quirrel, the trials to get to the Philosopher's stone and Harry's recount of the events with the Mirror of Erised. Dumbledore was astonished to discover that not only was a full-grown basilisk was still living in the castle but that a group of twelve-year-olds were the ones to figure it out first and kill the creature.

"You allowed a student to use a time-turner to attend more classes and allowed dementors to patrol the grounds," Snape admonished Dumbledore.

"In the headmaster's defense, I asked to be permitted to take more classes and he discovered the solution. The dementors were out of his hands, the ministry begins to play a stronger hand in the workings of Hogwarts throughout the years."

The uncovering of Scabbers and his subsequent escape from Hogwarts was in hindsight the tipping point for Hermione, it seemed that following that night her childhood was over. Next came the attack at the Quidditch World Cup, Harry being selected as a tri-wizard champion, the discovery of Barty Crouch Sr. body, Mad-Eye Moody, and finally the return of the Dark Lord.

"I do not know everything that occurred during fifth-year," Hermione explained, "we were kept out of Order meetings. You believed Harry to be a liability due to his connection with Voldemort. It was a dark year, Harry's mind was somehow connected to Voldemort's- though at first, he was unaware of it." Hermione recounted the night that Arthur Weasley was attacked.

After watching the battle at the ministry Hermione commented, "It was foolish in hindsight to go to the ministry, I don't think Harry ever fully forgave himself for Sirius' death. The only good thing to come of that night was the legitimacy of Voldemort's return and things moved quickly after that."

Hermione's retelling of the history of Voldemort was thorough and led into the main bane of her existence the past year, Horcruxes.

"Seven times!" Snape exclaimed, "If there was any doubt of him being a madman, it has been washed away."

"Yes, but I do believe there are only currently 6 pieces of it out there. Nagini, his snake, would have been the seventh piece. There is Voldemort himself, the diary, the ring, the locket, the cup, the diadem."

"Only six, what a relief," Snape said dryly.

Then came the night of the astronomy tower.

Hermione hesitated before prefacing her memories of the night with, "This may be hard to watch and listen to. I am not entirely sure what occurred, if the two of you came to some agreement or if something happened to make you switch sides Professor Snape, but on this night Draco Malfoy smuggled Death Eaters into Hogwarts and you use the killing curse on Professor Dumbledore."

Snape looked taken back, "I... I am the one who killed Albus Dumbledore..."

Dumbledore quickly spoke up, "I am sure there is a good reason Severus, please do not trouble yourself."

Hermione was not present for the actual deed, which was a relief in some ways, but the thoughts of hatred that Hermione felt towards Professor Snape were loud and present in the memory along with the intense feeling of grief as she stood next to the deceased body of Albus Dumbledore.

Leaving the memory Hermione apologized to Professor Snape for her thoughts, which he quickly dismissed.

The past year was the hardest for Hermione to speak on, it was still fresh not even fully processed yet. There was less explaining, Hermione opting for just walking through the memories in the pensive, only really commenting on points of clarification. The trio's time at Malfoy Manor was especially hard to relive, Dumbledore offered Hermione a rest, which she quietly denied needing to finish. They walked through their time at Shell's Cottage, the ordeal at Gringotts, and finally made it to the final battle.

Hermione felt numb as the followed her through the hallways, each time she saw a friend get murdered felt like the first time all over again. She paused a moment within the memory as the trio made their way to the shrieking shack to look at Professor Snape, "You die here."

He nodded back but continued to follow the trio. When the snake lunged at Professor Snape's neck Hermione reached up a grabbed young Snape's arm next to her, no one deserved to see themselves killed. He didn't acknowledge her touch but also did not push her hand away, together they stood there watching the light slowly fade from his older self's eyes.

The trio returned to the great hall and Hermione realized this was the last time she ever saw Harry alive. As she comforted Ginny over Fred's lifeless body, Harry slipped away up to the headmaster's office to view the memories. The rest flew by very quickly; Harry's body being tossed around, Neville's death, Ron's death, Bellatrix breaking into the headmaster's office and then she was here.

The trio left the pensive and took their respective seats in the headmaster's office.

* * *

The sky was lightening in East.

"I am sorry for the hand this world has dealt you, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said after several minutes had passed. "It seems that the actions of one man has had a more profound impact that even I could have realized."

Hermione assented silently.

"It will take time in order to determine what course of action we should take, now that we have this information at our disposal."

This puzzled Hermione, "Is it not clear? We need to alert the McKinnon's, the Prewitte's, and Dorcus Meadowes and let them know they are targets, we need to change the Potter's secret keeper immediately, and then we need to start hunting Horcruxes."

"It is not quite so simple Miss Granger. You see the information you gave us now is viable, but by us even knowing this information the future is changing."

This frustrated Hermoine, "That is the point Professor! Did you think I had not considered that before I told you all of this? I know that me telling you will have an impact, that me telling you my past- my future will never exist. We could not stop Voldemort then, maybe I was brought here to give the world another chance at defeating him."

Though Hermione's voice grew through her speech, Dumbledore's response was in the same tone as always, "We must retain the timeline to the best of our ability in order to maintain the predictability of Voldemort's moves."

"We are going to sacrifice lives in order to know who Voldemort is going to murder next!" Hermione practically shouted incredulously.

"You must be able to see Miss Granger, that there are significantly more lives at stake than the few whose deaths you can remember."

"Professor Dumbledore, I fully intend to use this second chance to save as many lives as possible," Hermonie raised her chin in defiance at Professor Dumbledore.

Snape sat quietly through all of this, watching the exchange passively but choosing not to interact.

"Miss Granger, you have given us a lot to think about," Dumbledore said somewhat resigned. "It is quite late, or should I say early, and students will begin to awaken soon. Nothing more can be solved this day, I beg you to rest today and that tomorrow we can begin planning together what our strategy will be. You have made clear your intentions and I will take them into account while considering our options. You seemed to hold me in high regard during your time as a student here, please trust in me that I will do what I feel is best for the good of the world."

Feeling somewhat chastised Hermione agreed.

"Now, both of you need sleep," Dumbledore motioned to the potion's master and women sitting opposite of him. "Severus, I am canceling your classes for the day. I expect to see you both in my office tomorrow night after dinner."

Feeling dismissed, the two rose and exited the headmaster's office, went down the stairs, and went their separate ways.

Severus Snape never having said a word.

* * *

Author's Note

Ummm. Hi, it's me. Tell me what you think.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

After being dismissed by the headmaster Hermione had returned to her chambers and quickly fallen into a restless sleep that only lasted a few hours. Her body and mind were both tired in every meaning of the sense, one day she was going to actually allow herself the rest her aching body needed. Today was not that day.

Instead, Hermione chose to leave her small living quarters and find somewhere new to try and clear her mind. She quickly disillusioned herself in order to avoid wandering eyes and snuck out to a familiar path towards the Black Lake.

The early morning air outside was clean and moist, it wet her face and filled her lungs. Hermione's trainers crunched satisfyingly on the pebbled shore of a well-concealed enclave, she settled down on the damp rocks and dropped her charm. She would be obscured from view from anyone in the castle and would be able to hear anyone coming up the path before they reached her.

Picking up a particularly flat rock Hermione threw it across the still surface of the water watching as it skipped once, twice, three times before sinking into the dark depths below.

She was frustrated with Dumbledore. He was the most powerful wizard she knew and the only one which Voldemort himself feared, yet he was unwilling to change the future. He was content with letting innocents die as long as he knew about when they were going to die. He had to be coming up with a plan.

A chill made it's way up Hermione's spine as she thought of the last time Dumbledore had the fate of the world in his hands.

Hermione sighed heavily and threw herself fully back onto the rough shore, allowing the moisture to seep through the thick layers of her cloak.

Dumbledore did not have this information the last time, she reasoned. Dumbledore was not going to _not_ do anything, he had to have a plan.

Would she be a part of his plan? Hermione had no purpose to her life anymore, she was not even sure if she still existed in this reality. If she went to her parent's home in Hampstead right now, would she find her younger self? Would she still be magical? It hurt her head to think about it, so many questions without answers.

She heard a twig snap from behind her and quickly shot up with her wand out in a defensive position, "Who's there?" Her eyes quickly searched for the intruder when suddenly appeared Severus Snape sitting on a large fallen log ten paces from where Hermione had been laying.

He was sitting calmly both hands raised with palms open and facing her, showing that he meant no harm.

"My apologies, I did not mean to startle you."

"But you make no apology for spying on me," Hermione bit back angerly at him. She was annoyed that he had invaded on her privacy, even more so in that she had not detected him sooner, she was getting lazy in her distracted state. "Tell me, Professor, do you make it a habit of creeping around women in the shadows?"

Severus' eyes flashed at her implication, "I'll have you know Miss Granger that I was here before you arrived." Thinly veiled annoyance was being thrown her direction by the potion's master. "If anything you should apologize to me for so rudely commandeering my getaway. Furthermore, if you wanted privacy you should take more care in making sure you are alone in the first place," he quickly rose and turned on his heel making haste back in the direction of the castle.

Hermione was quickly on her feet making long strides after the man, "Wait! Please, I apologize!" She reached out a grabbed his arm, turning him to face her, "Forgive me, I am not thinking with a clear head."

Severus' dark eyes were narrowed in on the hand that grasped his arm, "It would be best if you would unhand me, Miss Granger." Hermione quickly detached herself, pulling back her hand as if she had been burned.

"Please," she put up her hands in front of her as if trying to calm an angered hippogriff, "stay. I was hoping to talk to you."

Snape looked down his long nose at the girl, from this angle he could appreciate how the sudden excitement made her skin flush in an admirable way.

With a deep sigh that seemed to relax Severus' muscles, he replied, "What is it that you wish to discuss?"

Looking around Hermione suddenly felt very exposed on the well-worn trail that encircled the lake, just a glance over Snape's shoulder revealed how close they still were to the castle. "Somewhere more private perhaps?"

Turning and trusting Snape to follow, Hermione began to trudge deeper into the Forbidden Forrest at a path perpendicular to the trail. The foliage was thick and Hermione's footsteps heavy as they walked, at one point her right trainer landed in a particularly muddy spot and liquid seeped in past the barrier, wetting her sock. In contrast to Hermione's pilgrimage, Snape moved silently and surely making the girl have to look back every couple of seconds to ensure that Snape was still following.

They landed in a small open clearing, light shined through the tall trees allowing for a circle of spring flowers to flourish in the otherwise dark underbrush. After checking to make sure that the two were alone, Hermione quietly swished her want and muttered _Muffliato_ to be on the safe side. The action had Snape's right brow raise with curiosity.

"It is curious Miss Granger, from your memories it would see that we were not on friendly terms and yet here you are using a spell of my own creation in front of me. Tell me, are many of my spells widely known and used in your time?" The snarky drawl that Snape used would have made the professor of her time proud.

Hermione flushed and quickly began, "No, not at all honestly. Harry learned a handful of your spells from the Half-Blood Prince's copy of _Advanced Potion Making._ Harry said you knew he had it the whole time, I argue that you only found out about it after Harry nearly killed Draco Malfoy with one of your spells towards the end of the year. Either way, Harry got rid of the book in the Room of Requirement, but the three of us still used some of the spells during our year on the run. Well, not all of your spells, obviously Levicorpus was well known enough even in your time, or this time, what I mean to say is that we..."

Snape quickly cut in, "Granger you're babbling."

Hermione smiled at him. "Yes, Harry and Ron often say I have a habit of doing that."

"I will have to keep that in mind for future conversations. Now I assume you did not bring me a mile into the forest to reminisce amongst the anemones."

The corners of Hermione's lips turned up at his identification of the flowering species. "No, I brought you here for a much less savory past time. You see I have this grand idea to save the world and I want you to help me do it."

Snape's face stayed neutral but folded his arms across his chest, "How Gryffindor of you, thinking we could save the world."

"But that's just it," energy coursed through Hermione and her words implored him to see the passion that lay underneath, " _we_ are the ones who could save the world. It is the most obvious thing, the two of us working together."

"Assuming I would want to work with you," Severus' voice stayed even and neutral, a stark contrast to Hermione's intensity.

Ignoring the jibe, "You have access to all the locations and people we need to get to and I have all the information we need to succeed."

"You say this as if it were simple, I can see it now 'Yes Lucius glad you could have me over, I hope my dear godson is not giving Cissy too much trouble. Would it be too much of an inconvenience if I borrowed that precious diary that the Dark Lord told you to guard with your life?' No doubt that would go swimmingly."

Hermione's eyes rolled at his spot on Lucius Malfoy impression, "We just need to start making a plan. It would be easier if Dumbledore was on our side of course, but I still believe we can make it work without him if need be."

"You propose that we try to take down the Dark Lord without Albus Dumbledore finding out," he said dispassionately.

"If it meant changing my future," Hermione bravely walked right up to Severus, close enough that she had to lean her head back to took into his eyes, "if it meant that the lives of my friends and family would be spared, I would do anything."

The close proximity of the girl knocked Severus off-kilter and the mask that he wore cracked a bit. _Interesting,_ Hermione thought as she was able to see his brow furrow a bit and an unnamed emotion flashed from behind his black eyes, Snape seemed effected. Professor Snape of her time would have never given off a tell so easily.

"So... are you in?"

Severus' eyes flashed between each of hers, "I'll consider it."

"Perfect!" Hermione seemed to take his statement as confirmation enough.

Backing out of his personal space she began to pace while talking, not necessarily to him, but more so spewing ideas into the space between them, "It will not be easy, we will have to think of a way to either get Dumbledore on our side or deceive him of our actions."

"I cannot lie to him," Severus said firmly.

Stilling pacing Hermione continued, "I know it will be hard, but at the end of the day the stakes are too important, too high. School is almost out, once we get away from Hogwarts-"

"Your line of thinking is fruitless-" Severus tried to interject but Hermione merely threw a hand up in his direction waving it off as she continued her path.

"We need to get rid of the one at the castle before the break, we can kill the basilisk as well so we have a way to destroy them, and then during summer we could get through all of the rest of the Horcruxes, it is all about having the right entrance strategy, it would need to be believable."

"Miss Granger we need to discuss Professor Dumbledore-"

The flowers on the path the Hermione was walking were being compressed deep into the ground, "I care not what his plans are, all of his planning did not work out in my timeline, maybe it is time for someone else to give it a go. Now it is almost perfect that my family is muggle-born and no one would have heard of me before, we would need to build a believable story- "

"Granger!," Severus said in a raised sharp voice, "will you stop your needless movement and look at me." Hermione stopped walking and turned towards him, this was the tone of Professor Snape of her time, she was half expecting points to be deducted.

"Well go ahead," motioning with her hands for him to continue.

"I cannot lie to him. I took an Unbreakable Vow, there is no way around it. If I attempt in any way to go against Albus Dumbledore I die."

"Oh. Well, that will be a problem. Maybe the wording could be in our favor?"

"Not at all, Albus Dumbledore knows his way around an Unbreakable Vow. If you wish to include me in your plans, Albus Dumbledore must be in the know."

Hermione worried her low lip between her teeth as she thought of solutions, "What if we didn't tell him-"

"No, withholding of the truth does not stop me from acting against his expressed wishes."

"Okay then, the solution is quite clear then, you have to help me convince Albus Dumbledore to go along with my idea."

* * *

"Absolutely not," Albus said for the third time this night.

Hermione was sunk into what was becoming her favorite chair, it was impractically large but she could not help but appreciate the way she could fit her entire body onto it with room to spare. It would be the perfect reading chair to have in a study next to a roaring fire, one could spend many hours curled into its velvety cushions. Despite her comfy perch, Hermione was irked by the fact that Albus refused to budge on his stance. Her annoyance was compounded by, even after their conversation this morning about being a united front, the dark potion master's silence on the matter.

"Headmaster if you insist that we do not act on the information that I have delivered to you, what do you suppose we do?"

The two had gone in circles several times now after Hermione first pitched her idea of taking the proactive options of ending the war. No matter which angle Hermione came from the Headmaster refused to budge even an inch. He was also proving reluctant to admit what his plans actually were for how to win the war.

Albus shot a glance towards Severus before answering, "It is not so simple as destroying all the Horcruxes, we have to also consider that once the Horcruxes are gone Voldemort will still have to be defeated."

"Yes, he will have to be defeated but how is not acting going to help solve that problem?" Hermione was not understanding the motives that could possibly be driving the Headmaster. If the light side ever got their chance, would it not be better than Voldemort was as physically weak as possible.

"Miss Granger, you are not from this time so I give you some leeway. Voldemort is not as accessible as you might believe after the Horcruxes are destroyed it could be years till we have a shot at defeating the last part of his soul. You must think of all the additional lives that could be lost if we start meddling in the definites that we already know."

Severus shot up from out of his seat that this statement wand flying out of the sleeve of his coat, "You swore Dumbledore, you promised me."

Hermione gasped at the suddenness of the outbreak but Dumbledore did not react to the change in the mood of the room, he didn't even raise his want to defend himself. Looking up from his seat position behind the large desk he implored the potion's master, "Severus you must understand, it could be our only chance."

"It is out of the question," his wand hand shook with fury but his voice remained steady as steel.

"You must see, it is our only option. One that we have solid proof," the Headmaster's eye flicked towards a confused Hermione, "will work and turn out in our favor. Once he has perished it is only a matter of tying up loose ends at that point."

Realization dawned on Hermione's mind just as Severus said, "I will not settle for an end of this war if it means sacrificing Lily's life."

* * *

Author's Note: I am not even going to promise when the next chapter will be up. I am in my first year of medical school and I have time when I have time. I will say that every review is appreciated and usually helps me to write a little bit more. Please, if you feel so inclined to tell me what you think to leave a review!


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